cheerleader effect
Story- 18 Cheerleader lesson
Update: I’ll now be doing Bonnie/Larry updates with these stories since many past students wish to keep abreast as Bonnie was so important in so many lives. I’ll be going back to when it all started; many stays in the hospital. I’m danged lucky she survived it all. Since that time, we’ve been making good use of each and every moment of our lives. Pictured here is a trip to the Living Desert where she loves to feed the giraffes. This time, the fellow decided to plant a kiss on her. Made my day.
That said, on with the Cheerleader story:
A good friend dropped by yesterday and our little political conversation brought back a flood of my classroom memories; one being what I call the cheerleader lesson which has had many applications through my life.
Keep in mind that I’m not demeaning Cheerleaders in this story when I give a prime example of them voted for more for personality than talent which carries right on through to our national elections. I’ll get to that in a bit, but have to add that my younger sister was one of our cheerleaders during my football years.
A specific case comes to mind where I had threatened to assign detention to a cheerleader, probably for classroom disruption during a lecture. When she declared I “wouldn’t dare because”, now get this, “if you do, I’ll quit the class and since most of the boys are taking the class simply because I’m in it, they’ll quit, too.” Oh, really? I told her that I couldn’t resist the challenge, so to give her incentive; I told her I was going to double her time.
Let me tell you, that was the button. She was out the door lickity-split. Then, the moment the class was over, her cheer coach, a P.E. teacher was at my door furious that I had upset her little darling. Of course, this made me more determined than ever on the detention.
Then, I guess to show me who was in command, the young lady dropped my class and accepted an hour long detention in the school’s Detention Hall rather than the 20 minutes in mine with me. My eyes couldn’t have lit up more. Since all teachers served a week of this dreaded Detention Hall duty, I secretly volunteered to do that teacher’s duty that day just to be a nice guy. I’m sure that teacher thought I was weird, but it sure didn’t stop them from jumping at the offer.
Bottom line, I wish you could have seen the young lady’s eyes saucer when she walked into the room and came face to face with my smiling eyes where I simply grinned and said: “Checkmate!” Just keep in mind I’m not demeaning “Cheer” people, I’m just saying you can’t ignore the popularity factor playing a major role in the vote.
There’s even a better example that took way back in the Fraternity I belonged to in college. As I understand all members have the power of a “blackball vote” which is not often used. Basically, it is a non-confidence vote on a pledge who faces immediate dismissal from the Fraternity for no given reason although it is typically used when that individual reflects badly on the group. It can be called for any time and, incredibly, it takes only two votes to drop the individual without a trial of any sort. I can recall it only being called for once during my college years and it was a case where almost each of the 30 plus members would use their “blackball”. Absolutely no one liked the guy.
I guess it was that entity who sits on my shoulder who whispered a question as to why I didn’t like the fellow. You know, I couldn’t answer, so I turned to the person next to me and asked them what it was they didn’t like. Interestingly, they were bewildered as I was. Of course he turned to the person next to him and that whisper spread like a wild brush fire in Southern California.
After several long hours of going back and forth as to why, we finally came to a consensus: He was Ugly; not only ugly, but the ugliest person we ever knew. Let me tell you, there were a whole lot of lips being chewed on when the realization hit. So, it wasn’t long before there was a unanimous vote to admit the ugly one.
But, that’s not the end of the story. This new Brother was discovered to have an incredible number of talents, especially with his hands. With his carpentry skills, he completely refurbished the Frat House; affectionately known as: The Romantic Ruins. Not surprisingly, he was eventually elected President of Phi Kappa Theta. That said, the reason I write this should be most clear. How many of us vote for the person rather than the policy? I know I had been influenced by the Media until I signed up for a candidate’s tweets only to find a great difference between was said and what was reported. Yep, there was so much twisting going on, it could have passed for a fifties dance. Otherwise, perhaps you like me, need to ask yourself “why?” a little more often.
Wishing you well,
LarryBme2@aol.com